I spent some time this past weekend organizing photos from the past year and I was reminded of how much fun my kids and I had fishing throughout the state of Minnesota. We logged a lot of miles and even though we didn’t get out nearly as much as we’d hoped to, we had some high quality fishing on those outings.

We fished on Upper Gull Lake near Brainerd and had a great time catching eight and nine-inch bluegills off the dock. We also fished the lake from a boat and caught a ton of chunky largemouth. Motoring down the chain onto the big waters of Gull Lake, we caught a few meals of walleye and my son caught the biggest walleye of his life, a gorgeous 27-incher.

On the Mississippi River near St. Cloud my kids started off catching rock bass and then we tied into some bruiser smallmouth bass. My daughter has claimed those as her favorite species since they fight so hard.

We fished on Mille Lacs, both through the ice and open water, and my son set another personal best with a 28-inch northern pike. On our latest outing, my daughter got to say she out-fished both her big brother and I with some quality walleye action.

Since both of my kids are still fairly young, seven and nine years old, we don’t spend hours upon hours on the water. Our outings are a few hours long, we have plenty of distractions and opportunities to learn while we are on the water, and we probably miss more fish than we catch. They are learning and that’s part of the process, but I’m very glad to have such a wide choice of waters to choose from and quality fisheries to know that even my clumsy guiding will put them on fish every time.

Minnesota has 5,400 managed fishing lakes and many of them are considered “world class” fisheries. People consider Minnesota to be a dream fishing destination and I’m proud that my home waters are the envy of millions. I’d like to keep it that way, and that’s why I’ll gladly fork over a few extra dollars for my licenses this year.

Something that’s always been interesting to me is that the game and fish fund is primarily funded by user fees, and not taxes. This means all fish, wildlife and law enforcement activities of the DNR are paid for by hunters and anglers.

The DNR states that if the increases are enacted this Legislative session, it will keep the game and fish fund above the water until 2021. That’s long enough to get my kids to the brink of becoming teenagers, and I’ll gladly fork over a few more dollars then as well. If the Legislature passes the increase this session, the next four years will keep the fishing opportunities solid and give my kids and I a good chance to spend more time on the water together.

If it doesn’t pass, I’m not sure what good those extra few bucks will afford me. I might be able to afford an extra lure, or another gallon of gas, but we’ll probably have to spend a whole lot more just to have a quality fishing experience north, or east, of the border.

It’s going to be a great summer to fish Lake Mille Lacs and I can’t wait for the season to begin. Unfortunately for area resorts, guides and businesses, most anglers will opt for other waters this summer.

No thanks to a lot of the local media for that one.

As I drove home from work the other day, I heard them talking on Minnesota Public Radio about the catch and release only season this summer on Mille Lacs. Not the usual place to hear fishing talk, the announcer barely said the word walleye. Most listeners would have incorrectly walked away from the report thinking the entire lake was catch and release.

I shook my head and though, “That can’t be good for business.” And it isn’t because not enough is being done by those major news outlets to educate the public. The phrase “a dwindling walleye population” was also used and that’s a complete miscatgorization of the issue at hand.

The walleye season is going to be a tough one, but that’s going to free up the lake for those of us who love this multispecies mecca. This is a lake with giant pike, at least a few state record muskie, oodles of jumbo perch a plethora of trophy smallmouth bass, and the occasional behemoth bucketmouth.

If we hadn’t gotten to used to it being an amazing walleye fishery as well, nobody would be complaining. The town of Garrison would do good to take down their giant walleye and replace it with another species. Or, better yet, put up a few more statues to make it clear that this is a trophy lake with a lot to offer. If you only come here for the walleye, you are missing out on something really special.

What I’m most excited about is hitting the lake for bass, starting in May and going straight through into the fall. Lake Mille Lacs is going to see a lot of bass anglers this summer as some of the top professionals prepare for the B.A.S.S. Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship.

Will all those anglers “educate” the smallmouth bass on Mille Lacs? Plenty of us regular folk throw plenty of lures and technique past those red-eyed bronzebacks, but put some of the top anglers in the world out there and those bass will get a Master’s degree in fishing pressure.

Most anglers know that Mille Lacs is ranked 10th on Bassmaster Magazine’s 100 Best Bass Lakes in 2015 ahead of other Minnesota favorites including Rainy Lake, Lake Minnetonka, Leech Lake, Alexandria Chain of Lakes, and Pools 4 and 5 of the Mississippi River. Last year Mille Lacs was number 69, in 2013 it was 74, and in 2012 it was 35.

I’ve fished Mille Lacs in a big ol’ bass boat, a small fishing boat, a kayak, and from the shore. The good news is that I’ve caught plenty from each watercraft and the bad news is I’ve had some awful days on the water. On the right day, you can’t keep those smallmouth from biting and on most days you have to work hard for them.

The rock piles on the south end are the most popular places, and some of the easiest to locate, but that’s what makes them so tough. Unless you are the first angler to roll up on a spot in a week, those bass have seen a thing or two.

My prediction is that the elite bass angler who works the north and west structures is going to win the tournament. It could also go to the most daring angler who hits midlake structure and pops a few of the chunks roaming the sand and mud transition zone. Make no doubt about it, there are smallmouth bass all over the lake and catching five fish over 20-inches is very doable.

Not necessarily by yours truly, but I’ve come close.

While Mille Lacs largemouth and smallmouth bass have a tendency to be finicky, they will go for a variety of lures. My favorite has been a tube jig with a rattling jig head but six-inch plastic worms texas-rigged or wacky style are a close second. On slow days, bouncing a crankbait off the rocks or ripping through sparse weeds is great fun. The deep water reed beds are also fun places to splash around with topwater lures, just have strong line on because the shortest distance between that fish and your boat is a straight line--something those bass know just as well and will exploit if you let them.

While I expect a few phone calls to come from bass anglers around the country looking to hit the water together, I’m more excited to get my kids on the lake this year for some tackle busting bass fishing.

The moral of the story is this: Lake Mille Lacs is a tremendous fishery and anglers who know that are going to have nothing to complain about once again this season. While a walleye dinner will be tough to come by, and any you accidentally catch must be immediately released, this is a lake worth continuing to care for.

Follow the lead of those muskie anglers last fall who released two probably state record fish. Both are still swimming around. Follow the lead of most bass anglers who battle a 21-inch trophy smallmouth and then photograph it in a quick grip-and-grin before returning it to the waters. Respect the trophy pike that love tricking muskie anglers and release that 40-incher.

Those of us who wet a line in Mille Lacs this summer have the same responsibility as all the locals do--keep the fishing spots a secret but remind people how good this lake is and, until they show up in masses, make the most of it.